Microsoft has been having a whinge at the EC regarding the decision it should bundle a competing browser with it’s operating systems. The Google Chrome browser, that currently holds about 1% of the pie, would, Microsoft claim, give Google a monopoly. Black, call, black, kettle, and pot, I hear you say, and I agree. Though not entirely.
In an article I wrote about XP Mode, I said at the bottom that as soon as I could get my hands on the various bits of software, I would post. Slightly later than anticipated here we go. For the people out there who have yet to hear of the miracle that is XP Mode, you can think of it as an extension of Microsofts Virtual PC. As well as being an update to Virtual PC, it also has the added benefit of publishing apps installed on the virtual machine to the host. This means that if you have an application that is incompatible with Windows 7, you can still run it as if it were native. Still confused? Lets go through it.
A recent announcement by Microsoft is, for a change, very exciting. It seems that if you buy Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, or Ultimate, you will be able to download XPM, it is not included by default for anti-trust reasons. So what then, is this here XP mode? Quite simply, it is a virtual machine, based on the Virtual PC that you can already download from the Microsoft website.
Researchers have uncovered what they seem to think is a flaw in Windows 7 that has no fix. At the Hack in the Box Security Conference in Dubai, Vipin Kumar and Nitin Kumar demonstrated their Vbootkit 2.0 software, and used it to take control of a computer running Windows 7 at boot time.
Microsoft has announced that the release candidate of Windows 7 will be available for download on the 5th May. Those of you with a subscription to MSDN or TechNet are lucky enough to be able to download it from yesterday! The release from Microsoft is as follows…
No one can say there havn’t been some ingenious viral videos out there, trying to attract you into buying whatever must have gadget is the latest to hit the top ten.
Well, Microsoft have turned it round on you with their latest advert for the XBox 360 and its new (ish!) dashboard, complete with wii-me style avatar system. You see, they’re not appealing to you at all, they’re trying to get your avatar to hook up with a ‘Real’ (that’s you and me to, well, you and me) and telling the avatar about all the fun stuff it can do. I feel objectified…
Read on to see the video
Recently, it may have come to your attention that Microsoft and TomTom, the satnav maker, have reached a settlement over a patent dispute. The dispute revolves around the FAT file system, and it’s use in the TomTom’s Linux based OS. Microsoft said that the use of this file system infringed their patent, and so to court.
Remember back to when you first saw the Mac vs Windows adverts, either on the TV or on the net like I did which featured Mitchell (PC) and Webb (Mac) doing a sketch? Well, the most important bit about that advert was the fact that they were advertising for Apple. In case you’ve forgotten bits, here’s a picture to jog the old memory..
